The Philippines- Your Next Vacation??

I think I've said before that I knew nothing about the Philippines when we got here- no sights, no activities, no nothing. I think that's probably the best way to visit a new place. You have no expectations so you cannot be very disappointed (very buddhist).

Well, I sure am enjoying my time here, especially once we're out of Manila. Don't get me wrong- Manila has it's historical quarter, modern and old sites, food, etc. But in the end it's just another big city and we've seen a lot of big cities on this trip. They all have their own vibe, but life seems better for the budget tourist outside of the city.

Anyway, after hanging out in Camiguin we headed out to Donsol, on South Luzon. Since we're short of funds we thought it best to NOT FLY. That means taking it in short bursts of 3-4 hour bus rides and one-night stands in hotels before boarding another bus or ferry. Fortunately, we've got the time to travel slowly, and it's allowed us to see just a little bit more of regular life in the Philippines.

Donsol is known as the whale shark capitol of the Philippines. We're so fortunate to be here during the right season! Froody made a bunch of text messages to a guy named Taks who organized a place to stay, two trips out to see the sharks, and one evening on a river to check-out fireflies. He was a very relaxed guide and happily answered our questions about himself and the island.

He picked us up at sunrise and we all hopped onto his motorbike, stopping for breakfast before boarding our whale sharking boat. We spent about 3 hours on the water and had 7 "encounters" with the beautiful animals. I wish Froody's pictures did justice to the awesomeness of the experience.

After that, Taks took us to his uncle's house, who was having a party for his entire baranguay. It was nice relaxing, eating authenic filippino food (complete with scary red and awful tasting hot dogs. But it wasn't all bad.), and drinking warm beer poured over ice. That afternoon, Taks again picked us up and brought us to the river where we all loaded onto a small fishing boat--me and Froody, Taks, and the two young men who ran the boat. We stopped at a piece of land owned by Taks's family on which another family was living. We all relaxed in the shade of coconut palms and Taks asked that someone climb up and bring us all some young coconuts (buko). Froody and I had one and a half coconuts between us, water and meat. Young coconut is a bit different from the mature fruit we get at home. As evening approached, Taks (Froody) bought a fighting cock off the family. The young men and Taks then killed it about 3 yards away from us and gave it to the wife to clean and cook up for our dinner. Froody and I agree that while this chicken was tasty and flavorful, it did not taste like chicken. This took a while to prepare and it was full dark by the time we were served rice and chicken. I think Taks was a bit embarrassed and very hungry by the time it arrived. Anyway, when all of us were done eating, we slipped and slid down the mudbank onto the small boat and found the fireflies. Seems there are a few trees where hundreds-up to 1000- of fireflies congregate. It was beautiful,the tree outlined by silent, moving light.

The next day we did another whale sharking boat trip! We had another 8 encounters with about 6 sharks. One shark Froody and I had to ourselves, as the others on our boat couldn't keep up with it. :-) Of course, Froody didn't have his camera for this, but it's a good thing. I don't think he'd have been able to keep up with it while worrying about his camera.

Well, after that we thought it would be cheaper to stay on the island of South Luzon. So, it was off to Legaspi- the biggest town on the island- where we enjoyed cable TV and internet before deciding to get to the small island of Cataduanes, just off the coast of South Luzon. This meant a van trip to Tabasco, an overnight in a hotel, and an early (7am) ferry ride to Catanduanes. I had arranged for someone to pick us up through the Majestics Beach Resort, where we hoped to stay for a week. The "resort" is actually a main house with the kitchen and dining area and a small library. The guests stay in small, bamboo huts behind it, all encircling a small lawn of nice, green grass. The huts are very basic- a bed, mosquito net, fan, and toilet, with a faucet and bucket for washing! We also had a small porch and hammock where we spent most of our afternoons.

Our days here started around 6am. We'd eat breakfast (whatever Irene made-usually an omelette with toast or pancake), then go for a snorkel. The snorkeling was very nice, notwithstanding the loss of my mask and snorkel in a wave on our first day. I ended up renting snorkel gear from Lacy, the guy who owned another resort nearby (this one was a real building with a/c, cable tv, and an actual menu). After our snorkel we'd wash. Then, we'd read on the porch until lunchtime. After lunch we'd stay in the shade of our porch until 4 or 5, when we'd go snorkeling or Froody would go try surfing and I'd snorkel by myself. After that, we'd visit Lacy and check our email. We used that time to organize our final stage: the trip home.

We were lucky enough to book passage aboard a huge container ship bound for Long Beach, CA from Pusan, South Korea. This shortened our stay in the Philippines (ok by us) and allowed us a quick visit to one more country!!

During our stay we got to talk with some of the other guests. Many come here for the surfing. The coral reef we liked to snorkel around made an excellent wave break and in the mornings and afternoons you could find everyone, including Irene and her brother Alan (those who run Majestics), grabbing their boards and heading out. One such guest was a 58 year-old man from Japan who has been surfing for 40years!

Maybe I should add that Froody and I drank a lot more soda and beer than we're used to.

After Catanduanes (yes, you could call it a tropical paradise) we realized we have time for only 1 more big site- the rice terraces of the Cordillera, in Northern Luzon. We took a ferry from Catanduanes to Tabaco. From Tabaco we caught an air-con van to Naga. From Naga we boarded an all-night bus to Manila. After one day and one night in Manila (in the smallest room we've been in this trip) we got on one more all-night bus for Banuae...

...We arrived in Banuae butt-early, as Froody would say- 5:45 am. Luckily, we were able to check in to our room at the Banuae View Inn. We were greeted on the bus by Lolita who was politely if determinedly trying to get us to hire her as a guide for one of the many walks and trips to and through the rice terraces. (Because that's why tourists come here- for the rice terraces.) We were able to leave her at the door of our inn, both of us too tired to really commit to anything or anyone. Once in our room, the innkeeper brought us towels, soap, and Lolita's business card.

Anyway, Froody and I got to sleep for a bit. After showers and breakfast, he decided to give Lolita a call and she ended up meeting us at the inn. We decided to do the short 3 hour walk from the viewpoint back into town. This time, we all got into a tricycle (operated by Salvador, Lolita's husband) and had a pleasant ride up to the viewpoints where we took some pix. Then, Lolita and Salvador lead us up and down the rice terraces, following the irrigation canals downhill. Again, Froody's pictures capture only a part of the quiet beauty of this place. Having spent almost my whole life in SoCal(really the best place to be in the world), I could not get over the green of the young rice plants, the furry green of the mosses and ferns that covered the mud terraces, built by hand over many generations. I also loved the sounds of water that just fills the terraces.

Really, you should come here. The only thing to remember is to not have any hight expectations of the food.

Blehh for Blogging

I've been putting off blogging because I'm pretty much tired of blogging. I'm also tired of writing in my journal. Froody is very good. He blogs about every place we've been and includes info on hotels, guides, etc.

I just feel like I'm done with it all.

However, Froody does remind me that if I don't write or blog it, then I'll regret it later. I'll be wondering where we did that cool thing and not be able to search for it here or in my several journals. :-(

Anyway, I think I'm going to read my Google Reader for now instead of blogging some more. :-P

3-in1 Philippines

On this trip, I've learned that good coffee is hard to come by. I know that I've blogged about it before, but I'm still searching. It's even harder in the Philippines than India. In Hong Kong, there were Starbucks and Pacific Roasters and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf everywhere, but it seems that hot places don't really do coffee.

But, they do instant coffee. And the brand of choice is NesCafe. Seriously.

As a result, I've become inured to drinking NesCafe. Usually, it's nothing that milk and sugar cannot make palatable. But in the Philippines, as I've discovered in other countries, milk is very hard to come by. So, what do you get? You get instant creamer, namely CoffeeMate.

OK-I had to admit to being enough of a junkie to really not mind sinking this low. (Oh, how my pre-trip self would shudder at the thought: instant coffee! powdered creamer!)I think having it all happen in small increments has made my decent possible. But just when I thought this was pretty bad, it got worse.

Now when I ask for "coffee", I don't just get a mug of hot water and instant coffee anymore. I get NesCafe 3-in-1. That's one packet complete with instant coffee, sugar, and CoffeeMate creamer. :-( I didn't even whimper at this. In fact, I'm impressed with whomever had the guts to put it all together.

OK-so I've been drinking my 3-in-1 for a couple of weeks now, when Froody and I went to the store last night for water. What did I find in the coffee aisle? Not only did we see 5-in-1 coffee, but I even saw 8-in-1 coffee!!! As if instant coffee wasn't enough with sugar and powdered creamer, but now you can get it with powdered mushroom and ginseng and other herbal kickers!!!

Of course, I bought an 8-in-1 and had it this morning in my hotel room. Sad to say that it made me miss my 3-in-1.

The Philippines!

Is where we're at. I know, it's been about 3 weeks since I blogged, but there really wasn't much to say. We left Hong Kong on the 26 March and arrived in Manila in a few short hours. We spent a few days getting to know our new city. In a word, Manila is big. In another word, it's hot. We spent a lot of time in air-conditioned buildings or in front of fans. We did get away for a couple of days to the town of Tagaytay. It's main site is a lake in an extinct volcano. In that lake is a small volcano with another lake in it. It was very pretty and picturesque.

After that we returned to Manila. Why? To meet our friends from America! We really liked hanging out with people who know us for a change and they took us to some good Filipino food (we hadn't been lucky enough to find good food on our own at the time). They also invited us to attend her aunt's 30th wedding anniversary. It was fun; full of family, food, and disco!

When that was done, we finally left Manila for good. Wanting to go snorkeling, we decided to head out to Camiguin island and spend a week staying in a cottage on the beach. Sounds delish, right? Well, turns out that was Holy Week and every place on the island was booked up. However, we found someplace for that night only. It was cheap and very near the beach. The owner actually helped us out and called a relative who had room for the next night in one of her beach cottages. This other owner, Rosie, had another cousin with a private cottage who was willing to let us have it for 2 nights. So, with a little flexibility (which I was short of for a bit there) we had our first 4 nights covered, which gave us a chance to relax and get some snorkeling in.

One morning, I was sitting in front of a window, reading and watching the waves lap the pebbley beach when I realized that I was in yet another country. And it didn't feel weird or anything, like it was normal. That thought made me happy, and a little sad that our next country is the USA. (But, our travel budget is dwindling and we do like to eat and sleep in beds.)

Anyway, after our quaint cottages we got a room in a hotel on the northern side of the island for the weekend- all the Holy Week travelers having gone home- called Secret Cove. We chose it for better snorkeling and the on-site dive center. Turns out they have a really good restaurant, albeit more pricey than we wanted. It was cheaper to take a motorcycle (all 3 of us on one) into town, eat bbq chicken with rice, cokes, and halu-halo, than it was to stay and eat there. But, the food at Secret Cove is very, very tasty.

We snorkeled and even did a dive skills review. Man, diving in warm water is so different from diving in California. I can really see what all the fuss is about! You wear a much lighter wetsuit, no hood/gloves to worry about, and the viz is so nice! We saw so many different types of fishes, corals, sponges, and tunicates. We even saw a sea snake and a sea turtle. :-)

It was during our stay on Camiguin that Froody looked into the budget and was shocked on finding that our travel allowance was almost at an end. :-( After some discussion and compromising we decided NOT to go to South Korea and instead stay in the Philippines until our visas expire...on May 24.

Then, we fly home. :-)

Hong Kong Adventures

Today is our final whole day in Hong Kong. :-(

There were those who scoffed at our intention to spend 10 days in the city. "You really only need 4, at most," is what one person said. I can now scoff back at them!

Pah!

While we've managed to check-off all the major attractions and sites of Hong Kong, we could easily spend another 4 or 5 days here. There is so much to do! Some of you may not know that HK is comprised of a bit of the chinese mainland and a few islands, so there's something for everyone. It's fortunate to have a harbour bisecting it, making it very easy to view its famous skyline.

HK seems to do a lot of things over-the-top. There's no such thing as an understatement here. The parks are beautiful and well thought out and carefully maintained. The ones we've seen have man-made lakes, waterfalls, and the big park near central HK has a walk-through aviary. All this is free. The architecture is amazing. I've never tired of seeing this city at night and I don't remember feeling this way about a cityscape before. DC comes close.

And, of course, there's the food. I think what we really like is the diversity. We've managed to eat a lot of cheap Chinese food, which means tons of noodles, dim sum, street food, and a little bar-b-que. But we've also enjoyed a surprising array of international foods: Australian, American, Turkish, Balinese, and Lebonese, for starters. I can't say about all of China, but in Hong Kong people do love to eat. We met Joel and his girlfriend, Sunny, via Couchsurfing and they took us to a hotpot place. Now, this was a lot of fun! More fun than shabu shabu. You get a pot of water and veggies and then you order meaty stuff to add once the water boils (with the help of a hotplate). We let them do the ordering so this is what we got: fried fish-skins, fish balls, shrimp balls, squid balls, shrimp wanton, veggie wanton, thinly sliced beef, thinly sliced lamb, pig intestine, and goose intestine. And, Froody and I ate a little bit of everything! Once all the boiling of all the balls and meats and intestines are done and all the veggies eaten, the flavorful, oily water is thrown out! Joel did say that (if you did this at home) you could separate the fat out and use the water to cook rice in. But, usually, it's just tossed out.

After dinners Froody usually makes his way to dessert. Sometimes it's a bakery. In Central HK we walked by a bakery that was full of people buying egg tart (very yummy) and taking photos in front of the bakery holding their egg tarts! Obviously this must be some famous egg tart place, so after lunch we did the same. Sometimes it's a restaurant. Here we are with a tasty chocolate fondue at a place called Choco-Cat. Yup, they serve chocolate desserts and drinks, and have at least 5 cats that customers try to coax onto their laps. Joel and Sunny introduced us to sweet soup. Froody ordered the papaya soup. It was served hot and had some kind of mushroom in it, too. That really drove home the fact that the Chinese not only like food with flavor, but they like food with texture. Different textures than what Americans are used to. They also aren't held to any conventions about food. Sunny said she could never understand why Westerners eat cereal for breakfast, when in HK you eat pretty much whatever you want whenever you want. Including noodles with wanton for breakfast.

If you are a shopper, then Hong Kong is your city! I'm not just talking about 5-star malls and Fendi bags. The street markets are fun. We spent our days among the flower market, bird market, goldfish market (my favorite), jade market, ladies' market, wet market, and produce markets. Nathan Road, where our hotel is, is also known as the Golden Mile 'cuz it's full of jewelry stores, fancy restaurants, and name-brand everything.

Hong Kong isn't all city. The suburbs are still green, naturally. There are hiking trails outside of the downtown area. (We went to the Wetland Park yesterday, hoping to do some trail walking and birdwatching, but it was closed. :-() Lantau was very pretty, with only a few highrise apartments and the largest outdoor bronze statue of Buddha in the world....

..but it was still over-the-top!! We went to see the large bronze Buddha statue. The trip out there seemed like fun: first you take the ferry, then you take a cable-car, then you walk up to the Buddha statue. I thought it would be a quiet place, full of people who've come to pray at the statue. *pshaw* There were tons of people! It was like a buddhist-theme park! You ride the cable car and a "monkey" takes your pic and you can buy it at the end of the ride. There are two short films, one of a fable about sharing and another about the life of the first Buddha. (We didn't see either.) Between the cable car and the stairs leading up the the giant statue are all sorts of restaurants (really classy places) and gift shops, even a 7/11 and a Starbucks!! We just bypassed all this (excepting the restroom) and walked up the stairs to the statue. It was pretty cool, even in the fog. I wish the day was clearer; the views would've been great.

Overall, we really liked being in Hong Kong. Yes, they're always building something and there's the whole issue surrounding reclamation, but there's something to be said for tearing down the old and making way for the new. The city is able to adjust to its growing population and traffic problems with many footbridges (some go on for what feels like a mile). Buildings can be outfitted with energy-saving technology. Everything has running water and electricity. And functional plumbing!

On the other hand, all this organization requires a lot of rules. Now, India and Egypt had rules, but Hong Kong can afford to enforce them. Another downer is the feeling that you're living in a mall. All the footbridges and pedestrian subways have stores in them. Not just a snack-stand or newspapter stand, but high-class shopping and sometimes you have to walk through a fancy mall just to get to the other side.

Still, I'm going to miss Hong Kong. It was fun and I hope we come back someday.

HONG KONG, BABY!

We've just arrived at our next destination- HONG KONG!!! After all the bacterial infections and watching people pee and poop all over the place I told Tim I needed something totally different if he wanted to keep traveling and not go home right away, so we chose Hong Kong. I can't believe how different it is from anywhere else we've been to on this trip. HK is so clean, so busy, stuff is easy to find, people obey traffic laws and use the crosswalks (I've missed the green man!). That said, it's also way more expensive than East Africa, Egypt, Jordan, and India so we're limiting ourselves to 10 days. Just enough time to fall in love with Hong Kong, before all the bad stuff gets annoying.

Arriving late at night was pretty cool, as I was able to check out the skyscrapers' lights reflecting on the water as we traveled by express train from the airport to Kowloon. From there we actually queued up for a taxi- we lined up inside a hallway with glass doors on either side and a man in front directing us to the correct door beyond which was a taxi! It was so weird to be calmly standing in line, no one pressed up against you and no one cutting in front. It was also weird to drive through the town at midnight and see how clean the alleyways were by Egyptian and Indian standards and, this is important, no one. was. peeing. or. pooping. anywhere. srsly.

This morning we wandered a bit in search of a cheap breakfast (alas, I get the feeling we'll be doing a lot of searching for good, cheap food) and it was so nice! You could actually walk on the sidewalks! No stalls or piles of garbage to walk over, no huge holes or mysterious puddles to watch out for, no poops from various animals to be careful of. I mean, you have no idea how awesome it is to just walk on the sidewalk and not have to walk in the gutter/street dodging cars, bikes, and motorbikes (OK- some of you do, of course). Oh, it was so nice to be able to look about you at the tall buildings, storefronts, windows full of fatty cooked ribs and ducks with crispy skins or windows full of beautiful jade and diamond jewelry (sometimes next to each other), and signs. There's garbage bins everywhere! And people use them!

Oh, I think I'm going to like it here. :-)

What Have I Learned?

I guess you shouldn't be surprised when I tell you that a teacher-friend of mine asked this of me on Facebook. I mean, we're all about learning, right? Anyway, he was the first one to ask me that, so he made me think about it in a way I hadn't before. Sure, I felt that I would learn something from this trip- who wouldn't? And, I felt that I probably had learned something by now, but hadn't put it to words.

So, Hugo, wherever you are, thank you for giving me the opportunity to think about....

What Have I Learned?

*No matter what the background, everyone wants the same thing- a decent job, some dignity, the ability to support a family.

*People are basically nice. To date, I've never encountered any flak for being American.

*I really don't need a closet full of clothes nor do I need an apartment full of stuff to be happy.

*I may be traveling with only one bag of possessions, but I've seen people who own a whole lot less.

*More people than you think still rely on wooden carts being pulled by donkeys, oxen, or camels.

*And, they live in mud and straw houses. Srsly.

*And, they sweep with bundles of reeds only 2ft long.

*You can fit an entire family of 4 on one motorcycle.

*I like school kids, no matter where they are from.

*As Americans, we are very isolated. We don't have to worry about attacks from neighboring countries, refugees flooding in across the borders (whatever # of illegal aliens we get, it's not what other countries in Africa or India get), cholera epidemics, or a government so corrupt that it would rather see the entire nation die of hunger and thirst than change.

*America is diverse, yet we don't have bloody clashes involving whole cities or states over ethnicity or religion.

*Democracy isn't always the answer. Some countries have wonderful monarchies and, for lack of a better word, dictators who genuinely care for the well-being of their people.

*Many countries rely on man-, woman-, and even childpower to build skyscrapers and repair roads.

*What I've paid for one cup of coffee in a Western-style coffeeshop in Egypt, Jordan, and India is about what one person earns in a day in that country.

*In America EVERYONE can have the opportunities to improve their lives by hard work and education. (hello, President Obama) That is not the case in many of the countries I've seen.

*Not enough Americans travel internationally, and those that do seem to stick to Europe.

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That is a good start. Some of you may be asking what kind of lessons will I carry with me or how will these experiences affect my life, but I think I'll have to wait until I get home to find out.